Fletcher in the News

Globalization Creates a New Worry: Adm. Stavridis (F83, F84) Speaks with the NYT

Globalization Creates a New Worry: Enemy Convergence

Adm. James G. Stavridis, who stepped down this month as NATO’s supreme commander, has been at war in two wars — overseeing the alliance’s role in the enduring mission in Afghanistan as well as the shorter combat air campaign over Libya.

Combined with his tenure before NATO — he was the top officer at the military’s Southern Command, for a total of seven years in a senior four-star billet — Admiral Stavridis had been the longest-serving global combatant commander in the American military.

As he rose through the ranks of command over a 37-year career in uniform, Admiral Stavridis also came to be recognized as one of the military’s most prolific authors on strategy, operations and tactics. Today, though, ask what worries him most, and he answers in a single word: convergence.

That is the new term of choice in national security circles for the coming together of previously unrelated adversaries, who not only might combine in operations, but also share resources, know-how, weapons and technology and personnel.

“This is really the dark end of the spectrum of globalization as you assess rising national security risks,” Admiral Stavridis said in an interview. “It is something I worry about enormously.”